Of all the biosynths that had come to his labs since his return to Star City, Schroeder rather thought that this had been the most fascinating one yet. Even when compared to the thousands of creatures he'd made in the rest of his career, these stood out significantly. Undead creatures were not new to him--they weren't common in his previous achievements, but they weren't new--but they never ceased to be amazing.
Schroeder, despite some conceptions, was not a man of pure science. Technology and magic worked in equal parts on his ship and in his labs. The two "powers" were complementary in many ways, and Schroeder rarely worked one without the other. There were many things technology alone could not do, and many things more reasonably done with science than by complex and demanding spells.
The undead were one of those things that could not be achieved without magic, and Schroeder never missed the irony of birthing creatures that were already dead--essentially stillborn. But it remained a fascinating irony, to see a creature with no breath or pulse nevertheless move about and act alive. Undeath was not a state that could be narrowed down to a mere gene.
But undeath was not the only thing that made this synth amazing. As the firstborn of the clutch pranced excitedly around the eggs of her siblings, gleefully followed by her distinctly non-undead bond, Schroeder had to marvel at the way her body worked. It didn't matter that he'd made her. Technology alone could not have created a creature such as little Sibori: a creature who was half fleshless bone yet still moved fluidly, with skull and forepaws disembodied from her torso and wreathed with flame that only burned people if she wanted it to.
The viewing stands of Alpha Bay were packed nearly to capacity, even though the number of actual candidates was small in comparison to previous synths, and everywhere Schroeder looked, he saw "family".
One of the candidates was a Nightspark hatchling, returned from the hatching of Clutch Four. Even though Schroeder hadn't created Kaselanugo, she'd still been born on his ship, and was still a grandchild to him.
Another grandchild, Spera Diemicana-Pariyani, stood with Kenedi and the other three synth-parents as a guest, but Schroeder knew her name had been quietly added to the candidate roster at the last minute. He knew it because he was in on the secret, and had been the one to do the writing! Callidei, Spera's sister and firstborn of their synth-clutch, had invited herself onto the sands so she could visit more with the other crossbreed a little (they were both about half a year old, now, and growing rapidly), and was flanked by her sullen little bond, the wolfdragon Battleworn Claw.
Finally, up in the first row of the viewing stands, the little grey face of Schroeder's adopted "son" peered down. Little Halcyon Stormscale, a Dyrmyst youth, sat happily with his visiting sister Glace Sunscale. Also with them sat the man who was Glace's guardian, doing a very good job of looking like just another face in the crowd as the young Dyrmysts chattered happily with one another.
As Devika ushered the last candidate into place, Schroeder turned his last look around towards the yautjadragon standing on the staircase. Though there were no xenodragon or hydra candidates in need of watching this time around, Samurnde had still shown up and assumed his post on the draconic half of the staircase down to the bay floor. He was not, at least, concerned that the undead hatchlings would be troublesome, having observed the parents and familiarized himself with Sibori, who was nothing but energetic and merry.
But he had insisted that he and his siblings sensed something that had them on edge, so while Chetande patrolled the labs and Osende monitored the Security Deck, Samurnde had stationed himself to watch the crowd, "just in case", despite Schroeder's reassurances that he knew the nature of all things aboard his ship, and that there was nothing on the ship that needed to be worried about.
Samurnde had been quick to point out that if Schroeder knew about everything on his ship, he wouldn't have been so startled and concerned by the xeno-cats that had been the surprise addition to Clutch Four, and so had ignored the doctor's assurances. It seemed that Schroeder's "mistake" in not detecting the xeno-cats was an error the yautjadragons were never going to let him live down. Ah well.
As hairline cracks began to give way into shards of eggshell, little Sibori gave a squeal and ran over to the candidates while her bond, the golden Joyagi, ran over to the feeding tables. The tables themselves were, for once, almost bare. These hatchlings had no need for sustenance, so there were no bowls of meat nor trays of prepared food. But there was, however, a tiny, brightly colored, metal box, which Joyagi reared up to grab in one hand.
As she carried it back to Sibori, the fiery hatchling addressed the candidates. "Okay everybody, listen up!" she exclaimed, wagging her half-bony tail. "If one of my brothers or sisters comes up to ya, make sure ya offer them yer hand, okay? They can't bond ya if ya don't!"
Some of the candidates looked confused by the statement, but Sibori didn't elaborate, turning her back on the group and scampering back over to the eggs, while Joyagi remained where she was seated and hid her little box in her lap. Schroeder knew exactly what they were up to, but at their behest was staying quiet. They didn't want to scare off anyone Sibori's siblings might want to bond, after all....
Flaming little hatchlings began burst out of their shells all over the place, bathing the moss with the light and heat of their fire. As each one found his or her feet, Sibori scampered to each and whispered in their ears (not that they had ears one could actually see), until all of them had been rounded up in a group that mirrored the cluster of candidates.
The fire-wreathed hatchlings milled about for a few minutes, peering at the candidates with the orbs of light that were their eyes and murmuring to one another. Finally Sibori asked, "Everybody ready?"
Every one of the hatchlings nodded, their skulls bobbing freely in the air over their shoulders.
"Make your picks, then!" Sibori exclaimed, gaping her fleshless jaw in a skull's grin, and as one, her siblings all ran for the candidate he or she had picked out.
Secret candidates included. One male, white marked with jagged sweeps of orange on his shoulders and along his spine, laughingly pranced over to where his parents stood and gently bumped his bony muzzle against Spera, while Kenedi shook her fiery head in surprise. The little crossbreed gave her guardian a grin as she held her little hand out to the hatchling. Her sister Callidei laughed knowingly, and hugged her own bond to her with a wing.
Most of the other candidates were prompt in also holding out a hand (including all the adult dragon-candidates, who had all assumed human forms) to the dragonet that approached them, and those who hadn't thought much of Sibori's little speech were quick to mimic those who had acknowledged it.
When every hatchling had a hand before them, Sibori called, "Sorry in advance!"
Lightning-quick, every hatchling darted their head out and sunk their teeth into the hand they'd been offered. Squawks of surprised pain went up from the candidates as they pulled their hands back (each hatchling released their chosen right away), all of them now bearing bleeding teeth-marks on a single finger yet unmistakably aware of the new bond that had been forged.
Well... all but one.
A red-marked white male stood before the vampire Fairbrell, shaking his skull in surprise. Though there were teeth-marks on the vampire's hand, they did not bleed.
"You got no blood! I can't bond you!" exclaimed the little male, thankfully sounding more surprised than disappointed. "Guess I gotta pick again," he mused, and started peering over the candidates who were left.
It was the Wris'Talora genetics in them that required the hatchlings to bond by blood, and a fellow undead creature like the vampire would have nothing for the little dragons to attach to. It was a pity, really. From what Schroeder had sensed about the man, Fairbrell was surprisingly likeable. Perhaps he would stick around for a future synth--he was certainly welcome to.
Now Joyagi started making rounds of the new pairs, and the nature of the box she carried became evident--it was a box of adhesive bandages (the kind some called band-aids), and one by one she cheerfully offered one of the bandages to each of the newly-bonded. The bandages were brightly colored and covered with cartoon pictures, and identical to the one that each new bonder would see wrapped around Joyagi's own finger as she held a bandage up to them.
Joyagi hadn't been warned about Sibori's bite-need, either. She had only been present for the firstborn's hatching because she'd begged her father (who worked in Schroeder's labs) to beg the doctor to let her watch, and Sibori had ended up selecting her rather than one of the bond-willing assistants Schroeder always had on hand for bond-capable hatchlings.
Sibori had called Joyagi by name, and Joyagi ran happily up to the incubator Sibori had been housed in, so fast that Sibori had leaned out and bit Joyagi's welcoming hand before Schroeder even had a chance to warn the golden mutt!
But Joyagi had been too happy at her surprise bonding to be startled by Sibori's bite for more than a moment--and that also seemed to be the case with the newly-bonded candidates, as each either accepted a bandage or politely turned the neon strips down. The bite-wounds would clot rapidly and didn't even need to be bandaged (nor even cleaned, given the hatchling's teeth were dry bone, sterilized by their flame), but that just went to show how a child's thought-process could differ from an adult's.
The little male at Spera's side was Zaceso Li'Multigenus. The last name didn't come from any of the parents, but was a "gift" of sorts from Schroeder. It was the shortened form of "Liberex'Multigenus", which loosely meant "child from many kinds" and referenced the hatchlings' natures as hybrids of four very different species.
Accepting a bandage from Joyagi, after the other young dragon scampered over to her, Spera wrapped the little strip around her finger as Kenedi bobbed uncertainly back and forth above them, and smiled again at the whorling.
"Don't be upset, Kenedi! I wanted to bond one of your kids for you!"
Another white, this one a purple-marked female, looked up at Umbra with adoration somehow unmistakable in the yellow lights of her eyes. "Sorry I had to do that," she murmured, her voice gentle and soft. "I'm Tohala!"
Adaro Sumner had wound up with a bronze at his feet, though the male's coat was dappled with spots that looked like glowing stars--Lazulith's Old-World colors meeting the starry pattern on Reguard's hide.
"If you've got a job for me, all you ever have to do is say the word," said Bivaro, confidently holding his head high.
Yet another white female, this time marked with a lighter shade of blue, wrapped her fiery "arms" around Draelan's leg in an odd sort of hug. ::Your mom's kind of scary,:: Manore confided privately, eyeing the woman who stood beside him, ::but I love you anyway!::
As for Versile herself, a female marked with a gold nebula had settled by the woman.
::Tch... if there was ever a child that needed some discipline...:: muttered Galine, as if she weren't herself a newborn!
"Ignatiuuuuuus!" purred the little male who had latched to the firecat's leg. Jemyki was black, flecked with white spots and blue mottling in the Reguard-given pattern called "nebula". "I'm so happy you're here! I'm sorry you had to wait, but now we'll be together for ever and ever and ever!"
Another male was almost identical to Lazulith, at least in coloring. His hide was a rich blue, marked with an equally rich purple, but also dotted with "stars" in the way Bivaro's pelt was. His name was Kateni, and he'd snared Arlen Abresi with a simple declaration of, "You're mine."
Of the four Toxepni siblings, who had all signed up for the clutch, only two found themselves with bitten fingers and new bonds. The youngest, Rehne, had been chosen by a green nebula female. "I'm Zyseda!" she chirped, as she leaned against the young half-dragon's leg.
"And I'm Lihako," added the starry brown at Barori's feet.
Despite being watered down by three other species, the Old-World genes in the hatchlings hadn't been watered down enough to prevent the birth of a queen--a purple-marked gold sat proudly beside her chosen bond, the so-called "demon cat" Tysabri.
"Don't you worry," Rytasa had said with a gaping smile. "You're perfect for me, no matter what you may think."
"You're so pretty!" Kaselanugo squealed, as she wrapped her little arms around her new bond's head, for lack of a neck to hug! Though not even close to being as eye-blinding as some colorations the little Nightspark enjoyed, Yusena was still pretty bold--she was a hot pink nebula, with neon green eye-lights.
"And you can keep me!" the hatchling giggled back, her voice half-muffled against Kase's gemmed chest.
And as for the little male who'd had to give up Fairbrell, he wandered around and around the candidate group, investigating everyone who hadn't bonded two or ever three times, before his wanderings finally took him out along the circumference of the bay floor. He poked his nose at everyone, from his parents, to the hatchings assistants, to Schroeder himself, before he finally jerked to a halt at the foot of one section of the viewing stands.
"Grandpa!" he called, standing on his hind feet and peering way up the metal wall, which he couldn't see over--the inner "rim" of the audience stands were a good ten feet off the floor and fronted by a short wall. "Up there! I can't see them, but they're up there! I gotta get up there!" the hatchling exclaimed, jumping up and down, as if to climb right up the wall like a little fly.
"Alright, alright, hold on," Schroeder chuckled, reaching his mind out and wrapping the white with his thoughts. If a hatchling said his bond was in the audience, Schroeder wasn't about to tell it that doing that wasn't allowed.
Gently the white began to drift upstairs, carried by Schroeder's telekinesis and flapping his bony wings excitedly, as if he could hurry things along that way. He scrabbled his claws at the top of the wall as it came within reach, inelegantly boosting himself over and taking a flying leap at an unsuspecting hand just as soon as he was able.
The man thus "attacked" was the nondescript fellow sitting with the young Dyrmysts, Glace and Halcyon.
"Hi Yaashir!" Xabasi beamed, plopping happily in the man's lap once the bite had been given and their bond sealed.
For the moment, the man (who was more than a man and was in fact the source of the yautjadragons' mysterious discomfort) could only gape, his mouth working feeble protests as he tried to respond to this unexpected twist, as Halcyon laughed and Glace looked thrilled.
"I think I rather like these smaller clutches," Devika murmured, as she strode up to her employer with datapad in hand. "Easier to keep track of all the matches...."
"Don't get too used to it," Schroeder chuckled, watching as Joyagi and Sibori, with all the band-aids passed out to anyone that wanted one, trotted over to see Sibori's parents. "People are leery of undead, but once we get 'normal' clutches back in our Bays, we'll probably get the usual mass influx again."
"Joy," she sighed. "Oh well. At least you like the big groups."
"More candidates means more children, and there's never anything wrong with that," Schroeder chuckled.